Today I am going to talk about Naa Luro and the Gonjas. What I will say joins what I have been telling you about the Samban' luŋa. What I will be telling you, if you go to Samban' luŋa and a drummer is beating and singing, this is what you will be hearing. And as I am telling you what the drummer will be singing, it won't follow the Samban' luŋa exactly. At the Samban' luŋa, the drummer will be passing straight through the talks, but there are some points I will also explain to you. For example, if they mention some place, the drummer will only say the name, but I will tell you where it is. Or the drummer may only call somebody's name, but I will explain some of the meanings. I think it will be good like that. And so some of my talk is not inside the Samban's luŋa. What I have told you about the Samban' luŋa, they don't delay the talk: they let the talk be coming. And so if I bring some explanation, I think you can know the difference.
The first Dagbana to fight the Gonjas was Naa Dariʒɛɣu. He was the first to fight against the Gonjas, and he himself grew in the hands of the Gonjas. He grew up with the Gonjas, and he was with the Gonjas when he got the chance to eat the Yendi chieftaincy. When the Yendi chieftaincy came to him, he was in the Gonja land, and they went to him and brought him and gave him the chieftaincy. When so when Naa Dariʒɛɣu was a child, the Gonjas were his mother's housepeople. And we got up, and drummers said that when he was there, they used to abuse him and tell him useless talks. And when he came to get strength, he said he would go and get revenge. And so at that time, he didn't have anybody to fight except the Gonjas. This is what they have talked.
But some said, inside my grandfather Namɔɣu's Samban' luŋa, that the time Naa Dariʒɛɣu was eating, there was hunger. And the Katin' daa, that is, Tolon market: that was the big market at that time. There was food-selling there, and the Gonjas were buying there and Dagbamba were buying there. And Naa Dariʒɛɣu was sending his people to go and buy. And as the Gonjas were coming there, too, they were coming with hard eyes, and they came armed with fighting things. When they came and they met some of the people Naa Dariʒɛɣu was sending, they were catching some of them, and they were taking them and selling them. And some of Naa Dariʒɛɣu's people ran back to Naa Dariʒɛɣu and said, “This is how we have been going to buy things, and they have been catching some of us to sell.” And Naa Dariʒɛɣu was not minding, and he didn't interfere, and he sent some of his wives to go and buy. And the Gonjas caught Naa Dariʒɛɣu's wives and crossed the river to Daboya, and they sold them.
At that time, Naa Dariʒɛɣu's elders said, “As for Naa Dariʒɛɣu's matter, Naa Dariʒɛɣu's patience is not patience: it is weakness. Why? You are sending your followers to go and buy food, and these Gonjas are catching them and crossing the Daboya river to sell them. And you are sitting down keeping quiet. And even they have come to catch your wives. And you are just sitting. What patience is that? It is weakness.”
And Naa Dariʒɛɣu said, “A ram: a ram walks backwards before it's going to go and knock.” And the elders said, “A Yaa-Naa does not run from fighting.” And what the elders said pained Naa Dariʒɛɣu. They showed that they looked on him as a weak person. And he wanted to sit, but he couldn't sit. When they brought food for him to eat, he couldn't eat. It was just because of what they told him. And Naa Dariʒɛɣu called his elders that they should prepare for war, that he will go to Koliŋ. Koliŋ was the Gonjas' town, getting to Daboya. This was how Naa Dariʒɛɣu prepared for war, and this is what my grandfather Namo-Naa said when beating his Samban' luŋa. And many drummers say that.
And truly, I think that Koliŋ was where Naa Dariʒɛɣu's mother's house was. Many drummers say that it was his mother's house side, and he went to make war on his mother's house. And that is why when he prepared for war and went there, the Gonjas said to him that he grew in their hands and now he had eaten Yendi and become big. And as he has nobody to fight but them, they have some words to tell him. And they said that they looked after him when he was a child, and he has nothing to pay them back; and he is only coming to pay them back with war. And the Gonjas cursed him with medicine and told him, “Naa Dariʒɛɣu, you came to our town and got a wife, gave birth to children, farmed and had money, and went and ate chieftaincy. And hunger came and met us, and you have come to fight us.” And so when the Gonjas cursed him with these words, when he was fighting, his fighting things — his weapons — got finished, and he fell down in the fighting, and the Gonjas killed him. And many drummers say that they cursed him like that and they killed him. The one who killed him was called Kaluɣsi Dajia. He was the Gonja chief, and he took a cutlass and cut off Naa Dariʒɛɣu's hand at the wrist. And you know these woven rope bags from Bolgatanga that Frafra people are making: Kaluɣsi Dajia took the hand and put it into that kind of bag, and he was carrying it. And the medicines that Naa Dariʒɛɣu had, Kaluɣsi Dajia also collected them, and they were also inside the bag. And the war cooled down. And Naa Dariʒɛɣu's war curved to become Naa Luro's war.
After Naa Dariʒɛɣu died, Naa Luro received the chieftaincy and ate it. Naa Dariʒɛɣu's father was Naa Zoŋ. Naa Zoŋ gave birth to Naa Dariʒɛɣu, and when Naa Zoŋ died, three of Naa Zoŋ's brothers ate. Naa Niŋmitooni ate, and then he died, Naa Dimani ate, and when he died, Naa Yenzoo collected the chieftaincy. Those three chiefs came before Naa Dariʒɛɣu. Naa Luro was also a brother of Naa Zoŋ, and so he was Naa Dariʒɛɣu's junior father. And when Naa Dariʒɛɣu died, Naa Luro ate the Yendi chieftaincy.
During the time Naa Luro was eating the chieftaincy, strangers came to him. And Naa Luro told his Naazoobila, his small messenger, to go and tell his best wife Koyib-Naa to come out and he would give her things to cook food for his strangers who had come from some town to greet him. The one who carries the chief's drinking water is the one they call Koyib-Naa, and so this Koyib-Naa was the Komlana, the water-fetcher, and she was doing the chief's everything for him. I told you that the chief's wives have their chieftaincy titles, and you also hear her name as Kɔyibga, and that is the same person. But it is good that you call her Koyib-Naa, because carrying the water is a chieftaincy for herself, and so it is Koyib-Naa that is there. Naa Luro's messenger said that these strangers coming to visit the chief were his mother's housechildren, and so here are yams and here is meat; Koyib-Naa should take them and cook food for the visitors. And the woman collected it and put it down, and she wasn't cooking. And as the food was not coming, he sent the messenger to ask her if she was preparing the food, and she didn't answer. When the messenger went into the compound, Koyib-Naa was inside the room, spinning cotton. And the messenger called her, and she didn't come out. And he went back to Naa Luro. And some time passed and Naa Luro sent his messenger to go and ask Koyib-Naa why he gave her things to cook food for the strangers, and up to now the food has not yet come. And Naa Luro asked him, “When I told you to go in and call Koyib-Naa, did you enter or you didn't enter?” And the Naazoobila said, “I entered. I called her.” And Naa Luro said, “Return and call her to come out.” And the messenger went into the compound, and she was inside the room spinning her cotton, and he told her, “Chief says I should call you.” And she didn't mind him. She was just sucking her spit inside her cheeks and making some sounds — tsk, tsk, tsk. And he came back into the sitting hall, and Naa Luro asked him if he had seen Koyib-Naa in the compound, and he said, “Yes.” And Naa Luro asked, “What did she say?” And the messenger said, “I cannot say what she said, because she was just sitting.”
And at that time, Naa Luro's heart rose, and he got up. And he took a barazim, our local whip, and put it on his shoulder. The small messenger was leading him, and they went into the compound and stood in front of the door of Koyib-Naa. And the chief called her to come out. And she came out. And he asked her, “What happened and I called you, and you didn't mind? Why is it that I have given you things to prepare food, and your eyes are not red about it?” She didn't reply; she was just making a sound by sucking her spit. And the way older people talked to us, Naa Luro removed the barazim from his shoulder and gave it to his messenger. And the Naazoobila whipped her three times. And by then the woman got up and cried, and she came and caught Naa Luro's wrist, and she said, “Look at a useless chief! You bad-luck chief! Don't take talk of food to bother me. As for you, you only know food. If not food that you know, what else do you know? The chief who died, and you Naa Luro have come to eat the chieftaincy, do you know where his grave is? It's food that is worrying you. The one who died and you ate his chieftaincy, he is at Koliŋ. His grave is at Koliŋ. If you say you are a strong man, you should go and see his grave.”
And Naa Luro became very annoyed. He couldn't sit. And the messenger held him, and he led him inside. Drummers used to say that the skins he sat on turned to a thorn and pricked him. And drinking water turned to a thorn and pricked him. And food turned to a thorn and pricked him. And the pillow turned to a thorn and pricked him. That day Naa Luro prepared for war. He assembled his people, and he let them beat drums to call the whole town to come together, and all the villages around it. And they asked him, “What are you going to do?” And he said, “I am going to Koliŋ. I am going to see the grave of my son.” And at that time it was the rainy season, and they said to Naa Luro that as for going to war, they don't go to war in the rainy season. And Naa Luro said he didn't mind. And he said that because of what Koyib-Naa had told him that day, he will go today by all means, to see the people who killed Naa Dariʒɛɣu and to see the grave of Naa Dariʒɛɣu. This is how they talk about it.
And by then the town and all the villages agreed, and they all went back home and brought bows and arrows, cutlasses, and spears. And they started their journey. And they came to a river. Do you know Gushie? If you go to Gushie and you want to pass to Diari, there is a river there, at about half a mile. It's now at the main road, and formerly there was no road there. Yendi Dabari was near there, and this river passes there. That is the river they came to, and its name is Namkabiɛmni. Namkabiɛmni: it means “there is no greediness in chieftaincy.” That river is also called Yilinga. Naa Luro was coming from Yendi Dabari, and he was coming to pass near Gushie, because at that place the river is not strong. But as it was the rainy season, when they reached the river, it was full. And they couldn't walk across it. And Naa Luro came from the river and said that he would not stand and go back. And he and his people were sitting, and the rain was beating them, and some were dying. And Naa Luro let them cut trees and make something like covered sheds with leaves under, and he gave these sheds to the chiefs and they were sitting. They made more than four hundred, and everybody was sitting on the leaves. And they stayed at the river and couldn't cross. The people were very, very many, and some of them couldn't get a place to sit. And there were heavy rains beating and killing some of them. And Naa Luro said he would not go back home, and he said he was not someone who would prepare for war and come out for it, and would not fight the war yet and go back home.
And at that time, the Gushie tindana was holding the people of his town and all the small villages around. And the blacksmiths were in Gushie, and Gushie tindana was the one holding them. Do you see? The blacksmiths were not with Naa Luro; he had to send to call Gushie tindana. And you know, in the olden days, the small chiefs and the tindanas were all afraid of the Yaa-Naa. And so Naa Luro couldn't just send to call Gushie tindana and tell him that he wanted him at the river side. If he did that, Gushie tindana and his people would have all run away. And Naa Luro said they should be looking at the river. When they went, they saw a boy who was roaming with a boat in the river. That was the only person they met. And they said, “Chief, it seems somebody is in the water with a canoe.” And he said they should call him. When they called him, he brought the canoe and tied it to a tree, and he came and squatted and greeted the chief. And Naa Luro greeted him, and asked, “Which town do you come from?” And the boy said he came from Gushie tindana's house. And Naa Luro said, “What is your name inside Gushie tindana's house?” And when Naa Luro asked him, the tindana's child said his name was “Mbudiba.” It means my truth will push down somebody's own, that his truth will beat their lies. And then Naa Luro said that the name of the child has shown him that he has got luck, and that if God agrees, his truth will eat the Gonjas. And so it means that if God agrees, he will conquer the Gonjas: his luck will be more than the Gonjas. That how I can explain what the drummer is beating in the Samban' luŋa.
And at that time Naa Luro told him that he wanted his father, and so he should go home and tell his father, and Naa Luro told him, “But if you are going home, when you are getting to the house, you should open your mouth and cry. When you cry and they hear you, if your father asks you, you will say there is something at the river, and it's coming home, and you don't know it. You don't know its head; you don't know its feet.” And Mbudiba went, and when he got to the house, and he was crying. And Gushie tindana was sitting outside his house, giving corn to fowls. This is what the old drummers talk. And Gushie tindana asked him, “Mbudiba, as you have gone to the river, what have you seen?” And the boy replied, “There is something in the river, and it's coming to the house, and I don't know its head, and I don't know its feet.”
And Gushie tindana let them beat the dalgu drum, and he gathered his whole town. And he told them, “They have called us at the river, because they have said there is something at the river, and it is Mbudiba who went there and saw it.” And he said Mbudiba should talk what he saw for everybody to hear. Then Mbudiba said he went to the riverside and saw something, and he didn't know the head and the tail of the thing, and the thing said he should come and call the tindana. And so that time, the tindana got up. — When he gave the corn to the fowls, some remained, and he put it in his hat and wore it. What old people talk, that is what I am telling you. And the people who gathered, they got up and came out with bows and nine quivers of arrows, and they passed and were going. Have you seen the reason why they took these things? They didn't know what they were going to meet at the river. If you are holding a town, and you don't know about something, and you see a child coming from the bush and crying, and you ask “What happened,” and the child tells you that there is something at the river but he doesn't know the head and the foot of the thing, and this child is always at the river catching fish, and he is the one this thing at the river is driving toward home, will you go and see what is there or not? And will you take all your people with you? And if you have weapons, will you take them along? This was why Naa Luro gave that message to the child, because he wanted the people of Gushie to come with strength.
When they were getting near the river, Gushie tindana said, “Mbudiba, come forward and go to the front. The one who has singed his hair, he is the same person who will smell the scent of it. You have brought the talk to tell me in the house, and so as we are getting near, you will come forward and know what it is. And so go to the front. If it will catch, it will catch you first.” Have you seen? The reason why Gushie tindana told Mbudiba that the one who burns his hair smells the scent is that if you put fire to your hair and it is burning, you are going to be the first person to smell it, and if it is paining you, you will also know it; whatever happens to your hair, you will know it before anybody. And so if the thing he saw is something that is going to eat anybody, it will eat Mbudiba first. That is the meaning of the proverb Gushie tindana gave Mbudiba. And Gushie tindana got up with his people. And Mbudiba passed and took the lead, and they got to the river, and they saw Naa Luro there.
And what Gushie tindana was thinking when he arrived at the river, that was not what was there. And Gushie tindana saw that it was a chief, and his mind came down, and he greeted Naa Luro. And if you get a stranger, won't you give him water to drink? And Gushie tindana made his people go home, and they ground corn and mixed the corn flour with water, and put it into a pot. And that water pot, we call it kɔbaŋa. They put the drinking calabash on top, and they brought it for Naa Luro that that was his drinking water. They did know that Naa Luro wanted some trouble between him and the tindana. Then Naa Luro too told the tindana that, as for him, he doesn't drink water from that drinking calabash. And he put his hand into one of his bags and removed a tumpiɛɣu seed. It's a kind of calabash. And he said that Gushie tindana should go and sow the tumpiɛɣu today. And it will grow today. And it will get matured today. And it will spread its leaves today. And the calabash will come from it. And he will open it today. And that he should clear all the things inside, before they will pour the water into it and he Naa Luro will drink it. But as for that plain calabash, he won't drink from it.
And so that time, don't you see that he wanted trouble with the tindana? And the tindana, too, God was on his side. And the tindana said it doesn't matter. This is the way elderly people talk about it. And the tindana said they should make a mound. And he removed his hat. And he took the corn and gave it to Naa Luro. He said he should also sow the corn today. And it will grow today. And it will mature today. And it will grow its stomach today. And it will bear corn today. And it will dry today. And it will be fully matured. And he should let them pluck it today. And they will remove the corn. And he should let them grind it today. And he will use it to make water for Naa Luro. And so now, he has also challenged Naa Luro.
Have you seen? This example enters into the name of Tolon-Naa Yakubu: Wisdom is too much; one person cannot hold it. Naa Luro thought he could easily control the tindana by telling him to do these impossible things. He was trying to cause trouble. He thought he could push the tindana down, but he couldn't get a way because the tindana also had something to push back. The tindana gave Naa Luro the corn to so something that Naa Luro also couldn't do. And so if Naa Luro is difficult, the tindana is also difficult. And so that time, Naa Luro stopped. He wanted trouble, but then he left everything. At the Samban' luŋa place, when they are taking about Naa Luro and coming, that story is at the beginning of it, and when they come to this place, people used to laugh at how they challenged one another.
And so when Naa Luro stopped and left his challenge, then they made one mouth to do what they had to do. The way elderly people talk about it, he told the tindana that it's because of good health that he called him. And then Naa Luro told him, “It's not because of anything I have called you, and it is something. I am going to the seeing of Naa Dariʒɛɣu's grave, at the place where he remained. And I came and met this Namkabiɛmni river here, and the river is full. And I won't go back. That is why I called you, so that you will go and call your elders and your friends who are sitting with you, and you will help me to cross this river so that I will and go to Koliŋ and fight.” And so Naa Luro said that he was going to Kaluɣsi, and he reached here and the river was full. And so he wants the tindana to come and put something across the river and he will cross. When he talked like this to the tindana, the tindana too answered him that those who can do the work for the river are there. And the way elderly drummers talk, in the olden days, they were calling them Gbandari. They too, they were at where they were.
And Naa Luro said, if that be the case, they should go and find those gbandari. And Naa Luro took a messenger that he should go and call the gbandari. They went and called gbandari, and gbandari came there. And Naa Luro said it because of nothing that he called him, but he wants him to come and make something across the river. And gbandari came and was standing, and said, “The way you called us, we don't have knives. We don't have cutlasses. And we don't have axes. What are we going to use to cut the trees to put something across?” And they said, if that is the case, they should go and find blacksmiths. And the way drummers talk about it, the blacksmiths, too, they were having their own home town. And Naa Luro said Gushie tindana should call them, and he sent another messenger that they should go and bring blacksmiths.
And the chief of the blacksmiths, that time, they were calling him So-Naa Ŋun tooi kurta o ku kuri zoli: a blacksmith who can make things out of iron, he cannot make a tail. And Naa Luro sent that he wants him at Namkabiɛmni. And So-Naa too started calling his elders, Yidan' Borgu and Sayilɔɣu and Yidan' Faamoro. They were the blacksmith chiefs. And he gathered them, that Naa Luro wants all of them at Namkabiɛmni. And the So-Naa gathered all the blacksmith children. And they came in front of Naa Luro. And drummers used to say, when they got there, they used their irons to knock together: chung chung chung. And he told them that it wasn't because of that he called them. And Naa Luro told them, “I want you people to cut trees and bring the wood and build a bridge over this river, and I will pass it and go and see the grave of Naa Dariʒɛɣu.” And he told them that the reason why he called them is for them to bring cutlasses and axes, and that they should make them for the gbandari people to cut trees and make something across the river. And that time, the blacksmiths told him, “We don't have charcoal. We don't have iron. And the ones we are holding now, their mouths are not sharp. And we don't have bellows. So what are we going to use?”
And that time, Naa Luro found a type of tree we call laŋjina, and Naa Luro took the laŋjina stick, and told them to use it to make charcoal. And Naa Luro found some strong stones and gave them, that they should use the stones to make iron. And he found nine goats and he let them slaughter the goats, and they ate the meat and used the goat-skins to make bellows. And he gave it to the blacksmiths. And they started making up their places to sit down and start work. And the blacksmiths sat down and made knives and spears and cutlasses and axes which could cut trees. The old things they were holding, they made new ones and added. And they gave it to gbandari. And so the gbandari got up, and they started work. And it was during the time of Naa Luro that we Dagbamba learned how to turn a river. The river was full, and they wanted it to spread so that they could walk on it. And so Naa Luro let them cut some ways into the bush so that the river would extend. And the water was moving to the side. And what Naa Luro did to the river, up to this day, people are still doing it at the villages' rivers. And when the river was not reduced enough, Naa Luro said again that they should make a bridge on it.
And Naa Luro said that they should go and cut strong trees to make the thing to cross the river. And they cut all the trees and put them on the ground and became tired. Those who knew how to swim swam across the river and went to the other side, and they were there cutting trees and putting them on the ground. And they started making the bridge, and those on the other side were making the bridge and coming. And they came and met, and where they met there was a way between them where the water could pass. And they stopped and cut wide pieces of wood and put across it so that they could walk on that place and cross the bridge, and they put the bridge across the river. And Naa Luro said they should get mud from the riverside and put it on the boards of the bridge. And they mixed the sand to go and put on top. At that time, Dagbamba cement was clay, and they used it to mix it and cover all the boards.
When they finished, Naa Luro told two of his elders to go on the bridge and see whether the mud had dried. And the first one was the Warichin-Naa. He is an elder of the Yaa-Naa, and he is the one who is the leader of all those who ride horses. And his name was Warichin-Naa Zomʒɛbiɛri, and he took a horse and ran over the bridge and crossed it, and then ran over it and came back, and he told the chief that it was dry. And another horseman did the same thing, and he too saw that the bridge was strong. And that time, Naa Luro got prepared, and he was going to the war. And by then, Naa Luro climbed his horse and crossed the bridge, and all the warriors followed him. And so when Naa Luro crossed the river and went to the war, the time he was getting ready to go to the war, it was in the rainy season. And elderly people used to say, “If not Naa Luro, who? Who will leave dry season and go to war in the rainy season? Who will leave dry-season war and go to rainy-season war?” That was why the river was full when he came, and then he crossed it to go and fight Kaluɣsi.
When they crossed the bridge, they were not far from the place where Kaluɣsi Dajia was staying, and that place was the town called Koliŋ. And the day Naa Luro reached Koliŋ, Kaluɣsi Dajia was not there. He had traveled. And Naa Luro and his followers killed all the people at Koliŋ. Only the people at the small villages were left alive. And Kaluɣsi Dajia was coming home from his traveling, and he reached a small village that was under Koliŋ, and the people he met on the way told him that he should not return to his town. And he asked, “Why are you people telling me not to go home?” And they said, “Naa Luro has come to pay back his debt. He came when you were not there, and he killed the whole town and is now waiting for you. And he said if he gets you yourself, he will cut off your head, and make a hole in your head, and put a rope through your head and your neck.” And Kaluɣsi Dajia stood there and shook his head, and there were tears falling from his eyes. And he said that he must go home. And the chief of the village said, “If you are going to go home, then we must follow you.” And they took their weapons and followed Dajia. When Dajia came and entered his village and saw the village itself, he wasn't able to look. All the houses were on the ground, and the people who were killed were lying on the ground like flies.
And Dajia entered his house and opened his room. And he brought out three bows. He put an arrow in the first bow and stretched it back. And the bow broke. And he took another bow, pulled it again, and it broke. And he took the third bow, and it also broke. And all that time, someone was looking at him, and this fellow ran to tell Naa Luro that Kaluɣsi Dajia had come back. And he told Naa Luro that Dajia had tried to get the bow which was fit to kill Naa Luro himself, and he was annoyed that all three bows had broken. And Naa Luro laughed. And he took a bow and gave it to someone to run and give it to Dajia. When that fellow went and gave the bow to Dajia, Dajia got an arrow and put it in the bow and stretched it. He pulled it hard and let it go, and the bow sounded pippp! And Dajia said, “Truly, this bow is good, and it is fit to kill him.”
And Naa Luro sent a messenger to Dajia to tell him that Dajia should be prepared, because he is coming, and a human being should be ever ready, and so Dajia should be well-prepared; Naa Luro is on the way. And Naa Luro came and met him. And Kaluɣsi Dajia took the bow and was holding it, and he asked Naa Luro to shoot at him first or whether he should shoot first. And Naa Luro said Dajia should shoot first. And Dajia put his hand to his quiver and it was empty. He put his hand there three times, but he couldn't get any arrows. And by then Naa Luro took some of his arrows and gave them to someone to run and give Dajia, and the fellow ran and Dajia received the arrows and put an arrow in the bow. And he asked Naa Luro, “Should I shoot, or I shouldn't shoot?” And Naa Luro said, “Shoot.” And Naa Luro was sitting on a horse, and he divided himself into two, and he was in the sky with the horse and on the ground with the horse. And Dajia didn't know which was the real Naa Luro to shoot at. And he pulled his bow and shot an arrow at Naa Luro, and it fell on the ground. Then Kaluɣsi Dajia brought out a second arrow, and he said, “Be prepared.” And Naa Luro told him to shoot. When Kaluɣsi Dajia pulled the bow, the arrow went and fell down. Is that not two times? And Kaluɣsi Dajia pulled a third arrow, and he asked Naa Luro, “Should I shoot, or I shouldn't shoot?” And Naa Luro told him to shoot. And Kaluɣsi Dajia said, “Then be ready to receive the arrow.” And Kaluɣsi Dajia pulled the bow and shot, and vultures were looking at the arrow. When the arrow was coming, as Naa Luro had divided himself, the arrow was going around, and it didn't know whether to go up or down. And Naa Luro saw that the arrow was not coming with health, and he brought out a tail — that is, medicine — and waved it in the air, and the arrow passed and hit a tree we call galinʒɛɣu and hit a kpalga tree again. At that very moment, the trees died, and all the leaves fell down, and the trees dried that day.
And Dajia did not shoot again. When the arrow went and hit the trees, at that time Naa Luro became a human being again, sitting on the horse. And he told them to catch Kaluɣsi Dajia, and he approached Dajia and asked him whether or not he Naa Luro could do with him what he wants. And Dajia said, “Yes, you can do to me anything that you want.” And Naa Luro took a long knife and cut off his head. And when Naa Luro did that to Kaluɣsi Dajia, he said that they should remove the bag from Kaluɣsi Dajia's shoulder and bring it and he would see. And by then, any time Kaluɣsi Dajia was walking and going anywhere, and he was just hanging the bag on his shoulder and carrying Naa Dariʒɛɣu's hand which he had cut off. And they removed the bag and brought it to Naa Luro. And at that time too, Koyib-Naa, the one who insulted Naa Luro before he came out to fight the war, she was also following him. And Naa Luro let people bring her, and he cut off her head and added it to Dajia's head.
And then Naa Luro said all the people should run into the bush and collect dazuli for firewood, and they should bring it and make fire. And they put Dajia on the fire, and they took Koyib-Naa too and put her on the fire. And Dajia and Koyib-Naa burned into ashes. And when the ashes fell, Naa Luro let people collect the ashes and tie them in rags. And they took the ashes of Dajia and the ashes of Koyib-Naa and added the hand of Naa Dariʒɛɣu, and they took all of it to Pong Tamale. And he let his people build a room, and they dug a grave in the middle of the room. And Naa Luro let them take the hand of Naa Dariʒɛɣu and get the things to cover the hand just like the things they use to cover a dead chief, and they buried it. And that is how Naa Luro performed the funeral of his brother's son, Naa Dariʒɛɣu. And they took the ashes of Kaluɣsi Dajia and Koyib-Naa and smeared the ashes on the walls of the room like plaster. Up to this date, if you go to Pong Tamale, you will see the room there. And this was what Naa Luro did after fighting the Gonjas. And what I have talked, if you go to the Samban' luŋa and they are beating it, it is the same thing you will hear.
And I can tell you that an old thing, they don't leave it. There is a strong buɣli at Pong Tamale. When they burned Kaluɣsi Dajia and Koyib-Naa, they brought the ashes to Pong Tamale. Where they used the ashes to plaster the wall of a room, that is the room of that god. Do you see Pong Tamale, on top of the hill there, going to Pong? It is in the custom that even if you are just in a lorry beating a drum and coming, and you come to reach that point, you have to stop beating the drum. Because of the olden days signs of Naa Luro there, nobody will hit the drum again, unless you know that you have passed that place, and you are going and getting to Nabogo before you can start beating again.
And if they sing Naa Luro and come to the point when Naa Luro finished the war, that is the time they will beat Baŋgumaŋa at the Samban' luŋa place. And so they will sing about the starting of Baŋgumaŋa. And how Baŋgumaŋa started, after Naa Luro killed Kaluɣsi Dajia and finished the war, his body was hot. He wanted somebody to beat the drum for him just because he had finished the war and he was worried, and he wanted someone to beat something and he would be happy. And Naa Luro said it wouldn't be good for him to go to war and win and come back if there were nobody to beat for him to dance and have a white heart. And they brought the people who beat, all the people who beat in Dagbon, and they came and beat, and he said, “Their beating will not do any work.” Those who were there, the Batandana with their guŋgɔŋs, those who were blowing the flutes and the luɣ' yilgu, these were the ones they called. And when they played, Naa Luro would say they were not doing anything. And Naa Luro's first daughter, Pakpɔŋ Kachaɣu, said, “As my father has won the war, we should get a drummer, and he will call a name, and we will dance.”
And a small chief's messenger was brought, and his name was Namɔɣliyoo. Namɔɣliyoo was one of the naazoonima, the friends of the chiefs. Those we talked about, those they call namɔɣlinsi, those that they removed their testicles, that Namɔɣliyoo was one of them. And Naa Luro told him that he should put his leg on a horse and go and get him Baaŋa, that is, those who beat. And this messenger put a saddle on a horse and entered the bush, and when he was going he met a man carrying sand. This man was called Tambeyaɣra, and he asked the messenger, “Where are you going in the sun like that?” And Namɔɣliyoo said, “Naa Luro has finished with his war, and he said I should get him baaŋa to beat for him. And I brought all the people who beat in Dagbon, and he said their playing cannot do him any work.” And this Tambeyaɣra said, “What is with you?” And the messenger replied, “Cola is with me.” And Tambeyaɣra said, “All right. Give me cola.” And Namɔɣliyoo had only cola, and he divided it into two and said, “There is half.” And Tambeyaɣra said, “What of tobacco?” We had our local tobacco in those days, and Namɔɣliyoo poured some of it for him, and he added five cowries. And Tambeyaɣra collected all and said, “All right. Come down.” And Namɔɣliyoo came down from his horse. Then Tambeyaɣra said that Namɔɣliyoo should go to Kambaŋ' Dunoli, that Lunʒɛɣu and his followers were there.
Kambaŋ' Dunoli is “the door-mouth of Kambaŋa” and that is Diari; in the stories that is how they call Diari, as Kambaŋa house. The same way the blacksmiths were at Gushie, that is how the drummers were at Diari. Have you seen? At that time the drummers were not with Naa Luro; it was only Naa Luro's followers who were with him, and that was all. And they went to call Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu. This Lunʒɛɣu was from the line of the Lunʒɛɣu who started with Bizuŋ, and he was there with his followers and the followers of our grandfather Bizuŋ. The first Lunʒɛɣu is the one we call our grandfather, and he is the one they call you after. His time was far, and I think it will reach more than ten chiefs from Naa Nyaɣsi to Naa Luro. And so the first Lunʒɛɣu, his children were eating after him, and it was one of them who was sitting at Kambaŋ' Dunoli. When Namɔɣliyoo arrived there, he said that Naa Luro had sent him. And they got a sheep and welcomed him, and he ate. And he told them how Naa Luro had finished with his war, and Naa Luro had come and he was lying by the river called Namkabiɛmni. And Namɔɣliyoo told them that Naa Luro was calling them, and he wants to see them. Then Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu called Yamolan' Dapiɛlgu, and called Lunlana Ŋmɛndigando, and called Lunlana Merimuni Kuyela Shɛli, and called Zaadulilana Tusua. And he told them that they should come, that Naa Luro was calling them at the banks of the river. These were the drummers he called to go to Naa Luro, and they were the ones who went to sing and praise Naa Luro.
And the next day they told Namɔɣliyoo to go and tell Naa Luro that they were coming, and Namɔɣliyoo went and told Naa Luro, and Naa Luro's heart was white. When Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu and his followers arrived at the river, they found Naa Luro lying there resting, and he said that he had killed Kaluɣsi Dajia, and he was lying there. And Lunʒɛɣu and his followers consulted with Naa Luro, and Naa Luro's heart was white. And Naa Luro gave them water to drink, and he gave them a white cow, and he got a white sheep and a white hen, and gave them. And at that time there were no gowns, and Naa Luro got a white piece of cloth, and gave them. And they were happy, because at that time, only some of the chiefs were having clothes. And Naa Luro said that as he had seen Lunʒɛɣu, he was happy, and so Lunʒɛɣu should take the cloth and sew. This is why when they are going to beat the Samban' luŋa, they give all these things to the drummers. If the chief has the means, he will give and add a hat, and sandals. And he will get a turban and add, and if you go to Yendi and Namo-Naa comes out to go and greet the chief, either on a Friday or Monday, you will see him with a turban on his head. This is how it started. And if there are no means to give a cow, then at least the white sheep, white hen, and the white gown will be there. And that was why I also let you slaughter a sheep when I showed you how to beat Baŋgumaŋa. This was where it started, and it is still standing today.
And so when Naa Luro gave Lunʒɛɣu all these things, and he slaughtered the animals, Lunʒɛɣu was happy, and he took his drum and started beating, tim-tim-tim-tim. And Naa Luro heard the beating of the drum, and he let his people cut trees and build sheds. And when it was night, Naa Luro told Lunʒɛɣu that he should come and beat the drum, and he Naa Luro would hear the talk Lunʒɛɣu had. And Lunʒɛɣu beat the drum, and they didn't have anything apart from Ʒɛm and Bandamda. And there was something again we call Yɛl' kurli, old talks, or Tiŋ' kurli. Sometimes when the drummers are pounding the soup before they start the Samban' luŋa, that is what they will beat. When we last went to Savelugu, they were beating it. And Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu sang about how Naa Luro came to fight the war, and when he came to show how the horsemen rode their horses on the bridge and came back, Lunʒɛɣu opened his mouth with song, singing that the whole bridge had dried like the way the ground dries in the dry season. If you look at it, it looks like Samban' luŋa. The way he was seated there, when the drummers came, and they started with Tiŋ' kurli, that is it. And Lunʒɛɣu and his followers finished beating. And Naa Luro said they should give him a bad name, and he will take it and go home.
And then the Pakpɔŋ of Naa Luro came out, and she was the one I have told you about, Pakpɔŋ Kachaɣu. And Pakpɔŋ Kachaɣu said that the drummer was beating, and it was very sweet. And she said, “#8220;This drummer is singing very much, and his talk is very good, and it's sweet. Truly, today we have got a drummer who will give us a name, and give us a very nice dance to dance.” And she said that he should beat “Bɛm bɔ ma, bɛ pam bɔ ma jɛ.” That is Baŋgumaŋa: “They will look for me, but they will not see me again.” That is the meaning of Baŋgumaŋa, and that is the name of Naa Luro. We drummers give that name to any chief who went to war. And there are many drummers who know it as “Man' dan yɛli, mam be lan nya,” but if you go to Namo-Naa, he is going to tell you that Baŋgumaŋa is Bɛm bɔ ma, bɛ pam bɔ ma jɛ. And the drummers beat it, and that was the starting of Baŋgumaŋa. And everybody was happy. And if you want, you can say that it was this Pakpɔŋ Kachaɣu who started the Baŋgumaŋa because she said they should beat it for her. It is we who call it Baŋgumaŋa, but its first name was Bɛm bɔ ma bɛ pam bɔ ma jɛ. And Naa Luro said, “Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu is someone who can beat and people will fight,” and Naa Luro said again, “Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu is someone who can beat, and someone can come after a fight, and his heart will cool. And so truly, he is a drummer.” And that is how Lunʒɛɣu and Naa Luro were.
And so at the Samban' luŋa place, when they sing Naa Luro and finish, they will come and talk about how Naa Luro finished the war, and they went and called Lunlana Lunʒɛɣu. And Naa Luro wanted a bad name. And when they come to show the day they first beat Baŋgumaŋa, the drummer who is singing will turn, and sing, “They will find us, the bad thing, and it will catch.” They are talking about the chief, that he has turned to a bad thing, like something wild. That is a name of Naa Luro. Then the drummers will all stand up and beat Baŋgumaŋa, and the chief's wives and housechildren will come out and dance it. There is no song in Baŋgumaŋa. There are not many styles in the drumming, but the drummers can just beat a style that can fit the music. The drummer can bring some styles of beating in Baŋgumaŋa, but there are not meanings to them; it only makes the drumming more interesting. Apart from the meaning I have showed you, none of the styles have any meaning. If anybody tells you that they have a meaning, he is telling lies. And so at the Samban' luŋa place, the chief doesn't dance Baŋgumaŋa: it is his wives and housechildren who dance it during the drum history. And the elders who are sitting in front of the chief, if they want, they can dance.
And so as for Baŋgumaŋa and how they dance it, truly, it is for war, and it shows victory. Baŋgumaŋa stands for victory, and it means “those who guard themselves well.” If a Yaa-Naa goes to war, and he wins the war, we play Baŋgumaŋa. And so what is under it is just a sign of the good luck of the victory. Ʒɛm and Baŋgumaŋa are the only two very important dances in Dagbon. Ʒɛm stands for chieftaincy, and after there is a chief, then it is war that follows. Truly, there are a lot of hidden things in our drumming, but on the part of the dances we beat, these two are first. These are the only two that I have been taught are very important, and I have not learned of any other drumming that is up to them. We don't go to war again, but we still beat it. It's not that it is beaten when we are going for war. It is about victory. We beat it to remember the victories we had in the past. During the drum history, they beat it at the chief's house just to remember the old talks that took place in the past. And so on the part of Baŋgumaŋa in the Samban' luŋa, after the chief wins the war, when he comes back home and they come to the point when this Baŋgumaŋa is going to be beaten, if they have the means, they slaughter a white goat and a white sheep, a white hen, and then they give to people to eat; and then the drummers will beat the Baŋgumaŋa for the chief, then the chief will give the drummer who has sung all this a smock, money and a sheep. And when they finish, they will eat, and then they will come back and start the Samban' luŋa from where they left it, and they will be coming up to the present day, unless day breaks.
And what I want to tell you is that if they are playing the Samban' luŋa on the part of Naa Luro, everybody will tell what they told him at his house. This is why I have been telling you that the Samban' luŋa is just like a school with different classrooms. They will teach you something in different classrooms, and it is all the same but it will look different. And so when they are going to beat Naa Luro, some are showing what I have just showed you. And some are saying that when Naa Luro said they should catch Kaluɣsi Dajia, Kaluɣsi Dajia climbed a tree, and Naa Luro took a spear and passed it from Kaluɣsi Dajia's anus and it came out of his head. As for that, I have also heard it inside the talk of Kumpatia and Naa Siɣli, but some drummers use it in talking of Naa Luro. And as some drummers are taught like that, it is not a fault, because the fighting of the Gonjas is all the same.
That is why I told you that everybody has the talk he has heard, and as for hearing, some don't get it well and some catch it well. You can't compare hearing and seeing. “I have heard it” and “I have seen it”: can you compare them and it will be the same? And again, what you haven't seen, can you compare it to something also you haven't seen? What of somebody who has seen the thing? It won't be the same. And so those who sing the Samban' luŋa, those who taught them have heard it from somebody who also hasn't seen it, and some of them add to it, too. And so seeing something, and hearing something and adding: they are never the same.
Do you remember when we went to Tolon and heard Naa Luro's Samban' luŋa there? And again, we also heard Naa Luro's Samban' luŋa at the Dakpɛma's house some time ago. The one who beat it at Tolon, Adam Gbaɣu, he is the Wulana of the Tolon Lun-Naa. How the Samban' luŋa is, if the Lun-Naa knows that you can beat it, he can give it to you to beat. And Adam knows how to beat the Samban' luŋa very well. How Adam beat it is different from how they beat it at the Dakpɛma's house, and again, it's different from how Namo-Naa will beat it. As I have told you that Naa Dariʒɛɣu grew in the hands of the Gonjas, when Adam was beating Naa Dariʒɛɣu, he said that Naa Dariʒɛɣu's mother's housepeople were Gonjas. That was from the mouth of Adam, but before I heard this from him, I was only hearing from other drummers that Naa Dariʒɛɣu settled at the Gonja land, and that there was the place he sat and got money and got women and gave birth to children. And Naa Dariʒɛɣu was there before the chieftaincy came to him and they went there and caught him and brought him to Dagbon. That was what I heard from other drummers, but when we were at Tolon, Adam beat Naa Dariʒɛɣu and he talked about Naa Dariʒɛɣu's mother, and he said that she was from the Gonjas. As it is, the talk he talked has added to what I have already heard.
And so what I was telling you about the Samban' luŋa, here it is: we have different towns, and everybody will learn in his town. And the first point is that inside the Samban' luŋa, there are many paths, and the one singing will know the way he will follow the talks and come, and it will be sweet. If it happens that somebody starts beating Naa Luro, and he is coming, coming, coming up to the point where the war started, maybe he will pass different ways to talk about the things which happened. That's the way he learned it. And so I want you to know that if a drummer does that, nobody will find his fault and say that he is making a mistake. And I don't know, but maybe our drumming talk just looks like the talk of writing. In the Arabic way and in the English way, you have ways of writing things. The letter “A”: you can write capital “A” and you can write small “a.” On the part of the Muslims and the Arabic writing, how they write “A” is different. But it is one thing. Even on the part of the one writing, how one person will write and form it is different from how another person will write it. You the one reading will know that it is the same.
Yesterday too I told you that what also brings the separation of our drumming talks is the calling of names. That is the second point. Inside talk, there can be one word, and someone can turn one word into four different ways. And so as we are sitting in Dagbon here, we are calling Naa Bimbiɛɣu: he is the same person we call Naa Jinli. How many times has it turned? Two. If somebody happened to tell you Naa Jinli, and another fellow comes to teach you Naa Bimbiɛɣu, will you say that it is a lie, or what? You shouldn't say it's a lie. It's true. If it is a lie, nobody will take it and show you. And so as I am the one who has taught you this, if you want me to show you different ways of the same thing, I will give it all to you, and you can put it down.
Don't you see the name of the river Naa Luro came to meet? Is it not two names: Yilinga and Namkabiɛmni? If you happen to meet someone who calls the name of the river as Yilinga, you don't have to say that he is telling you a lie because you know the name to be Namkabiɛmni. There is somebody who knows only Yilinga and that is all, and there might be another person who knows the name Namkabiɛmni. One time when you were not here, I was going to Diari with some drummers, and some of them were very old. When we arrived at the river, I asked in the lorry, “Does anyone know the name of this river?” There was somebody who told me that this was the river which Naa Luro came to and built a bridge and passed. And I asked him, “What is the name of the river?” And the fellow told me that he just knew it to be called the Gushie River. And I told him that this is the river they call Namkabiɛmni. And he told me, “As for me, I didn't ask much about that.” And so how it is, not every drummer knows. There are some drummers who know, and there are others who don't know.
And I can say that if you are not a drummer, for you to know these old talks is very difficult. Everybody has the extent he or she can ask about things. I can tell you that princes or princesses don't show that they know much about the talks of the Samban' luŋa. They are not even supposed to know these things because if they get to know all the hidden talks in chieftaincy, they will never get a chieftaincy to eat. We drummers are the people who are supposed to tell a chief these things. How is it that such a person who is not yet a chief got to know these hidden talks, and we have not told him but he knows it already? It means he already has his chieftaincy, and so there is no need for him to get a chieftaincy again. If you happen to see that a prince is listening to the talks of our drumming, he will never agree that he knows it unless it comes to the time he eats chieftaincy. If he eats chieftaincy, at that time if you are beating a drum and talking, and you forget something, he will tell you, “My grandfather, why didn't you say this?” But the time he is a prince, he will not show that he knows anything about it. Formerly, the son of a chief would never even put on a gown: he would only wear a smock, because it is a gown they will use to give him chieftaincy. If he puts on a gown, he is showing that he is already wearing the gown, and so they won't give him chieftaincy again. At that point his problems will be going backwards. Nowadays things are changing, and princes are wearing gowns before they eat chieftaincy. But those who listen or who hear very well inside the tradition, they will never wear a gown until the time they eat chieftaincy, and this talk is very true on the part of the Yaa-Naa: the son of a Yaa-Naa will never wear a gown until the time he eats chieftaincy. It is like that in Dagbon here, and it is still there.
The time we went to Diari and we were coming back, there were some Savelugu princesses in the lorry. When we were going, they were not in the lorry with us. When we reached the river, one of these women asked me, “My grandfather,” and I answered, “Yes.” And she asked, “Is this not the river that Naa Luro last let people build a bridge so that he crossed.” And I said, “Who told you about this?” And she kept quiet. At that time, she became afraid, and a bit later, she asked me, “My grandfather, what I have said, is it a fault? Or have I made a mistake?” And I told her, “As for princesses or princes, they don't have to know anything about that.” And she asked me, “And so what I have asked you, has it now become a big talk?” From the river going until we arrived at Savelugu, that woman was still very quiet, and she didn't ask me anything. And when we arrived, she asked me again whether there was anything wrong with what she asked me. If I were somebody who threatens people, I would have told her that she could get some bad talks by asking me this. That is how it is. And so as for a talk, if they happen to tell you that a talk is forbidden, you have to fear it. This is how the Samban' luŋa is.
I will add you something. That river, they have given it two names: Namkabiɛmni and Yilinga. At Gushie, they call it the Gushie river because it is near to that place. And where it passes Nabogo, they call it the Nabogo River. Today, they are also calling the same river Kpalsini. That is the name they call now because at that place there are many kpalga trees. But those first two names are from the old talks about Naa Luro, and so they say they are bad names. It is just like what I told you about Pong, that if you are beating a drum and you reach there, you have to stop beating. It is the same thing if you reach that river. If you reach the river side near Nabogo, where the river is, you can't ask any question about Naa Luro there. Because of Naa Luro's talk, you don't have to ask. When the Savelugu princess talked like that in the lorry, she was worried. That is how it is. Those are some of the forbidden things that are still holding.
And so the old people used to say that those chiefs who were there at that time, they were bad chiefs, and what they left behind is also bad. Wherever they sat, and they gave names to these places, we call those places bad places. That is why I have been telling you that the way the chief himself died and his name is bad, then when you are talking about him, you have to do something. And so something that has passed and something that has just come, they are never the same. How this world is, as we are sitting down now, do you think there is any chief again who can get up to say he is going to wake up a war? If his grandfather or his father fought a war, if he says he is going to fight a war today, what has he got? As for these modern chiefs, they can't compare themselves.
The main reason why I am adding this talk is that I want to show you very clearly so that you will understand how these old talks are. If somebody happens to beat any talk, if he calls the name of the gun-shooters inside Naa Luro's Samban' luŋa, or if he calls the name of Akarima inside the talk of Naa Bimbiɛɣu, you have to know that it's not a fault. As he is singing, he wants the talk to be sweet. That is the way he learned it. And so when you look and you see differences in the Samban' luŋa, you should know that it is a drummer who is singing it so that it will fall well for those who have gathered at the Samban' luŋa place. It is only if he comes to mix the talks and they don't follow, at that time, he has mixed them. Those who know will know that as he has mixed them, it is not falling well. But they won't find his fault or say that he is telling lies. The drummer has not come to tell lies at the Samban' luŋa place. And so these small differences are nothing. It's like the way we beat our dances and add styles to make the dance sweet. If you are beating a dance, and you come to add some styles inside, it is the same dance. If you miss you road, if you don't go far, you can come back and join it again so that what you are playing will fall inside the beat. And on the part of the Samban' luŋa, again, it is not like our dances. You will know it the way you have learned it. What you have heard, you haven't seen it, but you won't take it and play it by heart. And so that is why I am saying that we drummers have tried our best, and truly, if you look at our work and how we are beating the Samban' luŋa, you will see that it is one thing. That is how it is.
After the war that Naa Luro fought, there were four chiefs who came and ate the Yendi chieftaincy before it came to the time of Naa Zanjina. And by then even this Tamale where we are sitting, it was for the Gonjas. Where the Tamale zongo is, and getting to Bulpiela and going to Banvim, it was all a place for Gonjas. But now you see that all this area is occupied by Dagbamba. The Gonjas had a lot of land, and even today in this Ghana, if not the Ashanti chief, then no one has more land than the Yaboŋwura, the Gonja chief. But if you count the Gonjas, they are not many. They have got land, but if you go to the Gonja land, you can walk for miles and not see a single village.
When Naa Luro died, it was four of his sons who ate Yendi one after the other. Naa Tutuɣri ate, and when he died, Naa Zaɣli ate. And when Naa Zaɣli died, it was Naa Zokuli who ate. And when he died, it was Naa Gungobli who came and ate. Naa Tutuɣri was Naa Luro's first-born son, his regent. Naa Luro sat at Yaan' Dabari and fought, and it was during the time of Naa Tutuɣri that they left Yaan' Dabari and took the chieftaincy to where the Yaa-Naa is sitting now. It was Naa Tutuɣri who took Yendi to that side. Naa Tutuɣri gave birth to Naa Zanjina, and it was after the death of Naa Gungobli that Naa Zanjina ate the chieftaincy. And so the Gonjas were occupying all the land around here, and it was in the time of Naa Zanjina that we took strength and collected it back. And the time Naa Zanjina was sitting with his chieftaincy, it was Naa Siɣli who fought a war and defeated the Gonjas and sent them far. But even up to this date, the Gonjas still have more land than we. We killed a lot of them, and their land is just lying down useless because there are no people there. And so when Naa Siɣli fought the Gonjas, it was only in this Tamale area that we people got to sit, and we didn't have time for the other places.
And so, the wars we fought against the Gonjas, we didn't fight them because of land. And I think we were fools, because if we had collected their land, then their land would have been for us now. I have told you that the war started during the time of Naa Dariʒɛɣu. Naa Dariʒɛɣu grew up in the hands of the Gonjas, and when he came to eat the paramount chieftaincy, he said he was strong. And so he said he would go and drive away the Gonjas and leave the land for us Dagbamba. And that was where he was killed. And this is the only thing which brought war, because as you yourself know us, we the blacks, we don't forget. When Naa Luro's wife Koyib-Naa insulted him that he didn't know the grave of Naa Dariʒɛɣu, it pained him; and he said he would go and fight the Gonjas again, and he went and killed Kaluɣsi Dajia.
And it was the time of Naa Zanjina that the fighting started up again. And at that time Naa Zanjina was weak, and it was Naa Siɣli who fought the war. Naa Siɣli's father was Naa Zaɣli, and so Naa Siɣli was the child of Naa Zanjina's junior father. And the Gonjas came again and attacked Dagbon. And Naa Siɣli said, “If I don't stand up and fight war and free our Dagbon, it won't be good.” And Naa Siɣli said that his grandfather fought the Gonjas, he said that they had pride, and they were not strong, and they were still putting their eyes on the Dagbamba. And so he Naa Siɣli would also go and fight them again. And so Naa Zanjina was in his life when Naa Siɣli came out and said he would fight the Gonjas, and Naa Siɣli went with his warriors and fought them and drove them away, and we were free. And so it was he who drove all the Gonjas from the lands where we are now sitting. And truly, between Naa Zanjina and Naa Siɣli there are many talks, and many drummers don't know about all of them. And I think we will stop here, and tomorrow we will continue with the Samban' luŋa talks, and I will curve the talks to talk about how Naa Zanjina came out and what he did. And if we reach Naa Siɣli, I will tell you how Naa Siɣli also fought his war and defeated the Gonjas.